The present disclosure relates to the estimation of the direction of arrival of a source signal using a microphone array. Applications may include Adaptive Signal Processing schemes for Hearing Aids, car kits, mobile communications, voice controlled devices, and the like.
There are various estimators known for estimating the Direction Of Arrival (“DOA”) of a given source. With respect to a fixed system of coordinates, the DOA is defined as the set of angles that define the location of the source, up to the intrinsic symmetry of the array. Thus, for the 3-microphone array shown in FIG. 1, the only angle that can be estimated is theta, the angle between the incidence line and the microphone line. With such an array, any source located on a hyperboloid symmetric with respect to the microphone axis will correspond to the same delay between microphone signals. Such procedures are commonly known to those of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.